Episode 257: PST Day! If you Aren't Assessing You Are Just Guessing - Plus LIVE QA with Stew Smith

Tactical Fitness Report with Stew Smith Podcast

See https://www.stewsmithfitness.com for more articles like this as well as dozens of fitness training programs to get you to and through any military, police, and fire fighter training.

You should create an assessment week for your training program at some point. A logical time for that assessment during a 12- or 16-week cycle would either be at the beginning, the end or both. About midway through the cycle, check your progress to see whether you are moving in the right direction. These assessments have to be honest if you want accurate measures of your ability, but the test should also cover the basics of training. See ideas for building your own fitness test if you do not have one to take:

https://www.stewsmithfitness.com/blogs/news/developing-fitness-tests-for-selection-into-special-ops

How do you feel? Are you burned out? (see recovery help) Do you think you're consistent with your training? Missing any days during the week? How are you eating at each meal and sleeping each night? These somewhat subjective assessment marks are just as important as objective grades during your assessment day or week. You can decide how many events to assess, but for anyone who wants to become a better tactical athlete, maintaining your strengths and improving your weaknesses will require more than a few days of testing. Here is something we do about six weeks into our winter lift cycle right around Groundhog Day. Our goal is to improve strength, power, and speed and agility, but maintain our PT test scores for cardio and muscle stamina.